faith alone, and never alone
The following is from my correspondence with a dear friend on the issue of faith and works.
The question you raise about the historical reformed and conservative contemporary reformed understanding of justification and its relation to works/obedience is often misunderstood and not well represented, especially by its opponents.
I first would like to say, that I find myself much more in tune with Calvin than Luther on this issue, as would most in my stream. To summarize what I am about to say, my thesis is: Justification is by faith alone, and faith is never alone.
There are two aspects of justification/salvation, expressed in the NT, that are often pinned against each other by interpreters. These two aspects are:
1. Justification/Salvation is by faith, and not works/obedience (Titus 3:5, 2 Timothy 1:9, Galatians 2:16, Romans 3:28)
2. Humans will be judged by their works/obedience, and sentenced accordingly (James 2:24, Romans 2:6, 2 Corinthians 5:10)
I think that the following view accounts for the intention of the NT texts on faith and works.
It is by faith, the mind and heart act, of embracing the work of Christ on the cross for me, that I am saved. This true faith always brings forth Christo-centric obedience. It is important to emphasize the Christ centeredness of this obedience, because that is the essence of the work that God requires. I firmly believe that I wasn’t simply a sinner before Christ, but rather, everything I did was sin. Let me explain.
All things were created for the glory of Christ. When I do an act for any other motivation, or with any other fuel, I am worshipping something or someone other than Christ, which is idolatry. On that terrifying and glorious day, God will look into the hearts of men, and he will prove the presence or absence of our faith by the presence or absence of our God honoring, Christo-centric work. Let us be clear, it is not our work that saves us, but it is the faith in Christ’s saving work for us. Yet, this faith will be proven by our works (James 2:22).
It is important to note that God can detect what man cannot detect. Meaning, as those who are attempting to judge a tree by its fruit, we will fall short in our estimations. There will be situations when we will see confessing Christians and not detect God honoring work in their lives. However, it may be that God does detect the necessary Christ honoring work, stemming from genuine faith in Christ. We must balance two things. On one hand there is the lack of apparent evidences of faith, which should lead to warning and exhortation from the body (Hebrews 3:12-13). On the other hand, we must realize our own inabilities to see as God does, holding out hope in the earnestness of their confession and the evidence of faith that may be present, though we do not see it.
The inverse is also true. There will be situations when we think we can detect these Christ honoring works in a confessing Christian, but in reality, their works are being fueled by another source, and the glory of Christ is not their motivation (Matthew 7:21-23, Titus 1:16). We must continually remember our frame, we are not the judges. No matter how in-tune our discernment may be, we are fallen and it is likely that we will have surprises on that terrible and glorious day, in both directions. We need to take heed to our own souls, continually preaching to ourselves and to others to believe the gospel, and to regularly examine ourselves to see that we are truly in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Apparently, the man hanging on the cross next to Jesus had real faith. Even his faith was not alone, but it too was proven by God glorifying work. This thief yielded up his last words as a confession before his audience of mockers of the authenticity and authority of Jesus. As others were saying “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” This thief said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
God, producing God glorifying obedience among the nations for the sake of His name, is inextricably connected to His saving them by faith in Jesus alone (Titus 2:11-14, Ephesians 2:8-9).
Justification is by faith alone, and faith is never alone
Jeff, I am reminded once again as I look at the prayer by thomas merton on my desk -
here is part of it:
My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself.
And the fact that I think I am following your will does
not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does
infact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the
right road though i may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always ………
Love you,
Mom
Mom, I love you so much. It was good to hear your voice on the phone last night, and we are looking forward to your visit in 4 weeks!
Concerning Merton’s prayer… My differences with Merton on epistemology (among other things) are great. A prayer like this, from my mouth, would sound much different than Merton’s. You will see many similarities, and some differences. The differences might seem subtle, but they are, in my view, extremely important. Here is how I might pray a prayer like the one above:
My Lord God,
It is by your grace alone that I know I am moving heavenward, though it doesn’t often feel like it
I do not see the road ahead of me
yet, I trust it will end in enjoying Your glory forever.
I know I am thoroughly wicked and undeserving, and I still do not fully perceive the depths of my depravity. Your grace is amazing.
You keep your sheep, and discipline your children,
and I trust you to keep me on the path even when I unknowingly go astray.
Continually renew in me a heart that desires your will no matter where it may lead.
I sense in myself, now, this desire for you and your will, and I am thankful for it.
Help me not to walk through life blindly, but please oh God, reveal to me Your glory, and show me how Your glory should cause me to relate to all of life.
I love you too Jeff, so very much. I love your heart – what a beautiful prayer. I am going to
print this and put it on my desk.
Oh, how wonderful our loving God is. I am forever grateful that he has gifted us
with you. May your life, your every breath bring Him glory always; may you know deep in your heart how your wanting to please Him, pleases Him and how very much He loves and cares for you.
Love, Mom
I certainly agree with everything that you’ve said in this post, Jeff. I agree that justification is entirely by faith alone, but that a lack of good works is a damning proof of a lack of faith.
The only area in your post where I might seek greater clarity is on your line: “This true faith always brings forth Christo-centric obedience. It is important to emphasize the Christ centeredness of this obedience, because that is the essence of the work that God requires.”
Bottom line up front: I would use the adjective “dependent” or “restful” or “believing” as opposed to “Christo-centric”.
Explanation: It seems to me that the “essence” (as you put it) of the work that God requires is not that the work be Christ centered (texts like Philippians 1:15 come to mind: “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry.”) but that the work be dependent upon the grace of God. In other words, even a person trusting very much in their own talent and skill could aim to make Christ the benefactor of all their talent and skill (make their efforts centered on Christ), but it’s another thing to make all your works dependent on Christ.
Caveat: I realize that you could also be using “Christo-centric” in the sense that I have just described above. In that case, I would just ask that you state what “Christo-centric” means (i.e. depending upon Christ) rather than assuming that people will take that as the meaning. I could forsee many people (such as myself) thinking that “Christo-centric” simply means to make the fame of Christ central in your efforts (whether or not faith is the driving force).
To sum it up: overall, I think your right on and my only issue is one of clarity. It seems clearly possible to me that a person could be motivated to work for the glory of Christ and all the while trust in themselves to glorify Christ – a practice that will eventually crush them. Rather, we need to be Christo-centric in our goals and aspirations while also fully dying to ourselves and relying on the life of Christ in us to achieve all our Christo-centric aspirations.
I hope you find that helpful even if I read you wrong. In that case, may it be a lesson in how badly people can mangle what you wrote!
Blessings to you, brother and thanks for joining me in my efforts to think this through.
“It is important to note that God can detect what man cannot detect.”
This wasn’t mentioned in class, but I desperately wanted to say it! This is a key we often forget, and as a result, end up judging and hurting people, and coming off as extremely arrogant. May God spare us from being quick to judge and not quick to listen (see James 1:19).